Social Democrats Secure a Third Term for Merkel

BERLIN — Germany’s center-left Social Democrats, torn between a tradition of leftist protest and a pragmatic desire to be in government, have voted heavily in favor of a new coalition with Chancellor Angela Merkel, paving the way for her to be sworn in for a third term on Tuesday.

Social Democrat leaders announced Saturday that almost 78 percent of the 475,000 party members had taken part in the vote, and that just over 75 percent had approved the pact.

Sigmar Gabriel, the party chairman, who is now likely to become Ms. Merkel’s vice chancellor, lauded the party’s procedures since the elections last September as an exemplary exercise in democracy. “It’s a long time since I have been so proud to be a Social Democrat,” Mr. Gabriel told cheering, applauding supporters in the Berlin hall where votes were counted overnight.

The result came just over two weeks after Ms. Merkel, her conservative Bavarian partner Horst Seehofer and Mr. Gabriel presented the 185-page coalition agreement, which reflected a heavily domestic agenda. It foresees the introduction of Germany’s first minimum wage, earlier retirement for some workers and new legislation by next summer to sort out Ms. Merkel’s signature initiative to move away from nuclear power and by 2020 reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent.While affirming the country’s long-held stance in favor of greater European unity, the program has little new to say about Europe, where Germany — the biggest and most influential of the European Union’s 28 members — has played a crucial role in dealing with the crisis of the euro currency in use in 17 of those nations.

Wolfgang Schaeuble, the finance minister charged with persuading partners of Germany’s view, is expected to retain his post when the cabinet is announced on Sunday. Frank-Walter Steinmeier, a Social Democrat who was foreign minister in Ms. Merkel’s first “grand coalition” from 2005 to 2009, is expected to become foreign minister.

Speculation has swirled furiously through Berlin’s political circles in recent days over exactly who will join the cabinet, which is expected to be sworn in after Ms. Merkel takes her oath of office on Tuesday.

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Sigmar Gabriel, chairman of Germany's Social Democratic Party, speaks in Berlin on Saturday. Mr. Gabriel is likely to become vice chancellor under Angela Merkel, who is set to be sworn in for a third term as chancellor on Tuesday.CreditRainer Jensen/DPA, via Associated Press

One surprise could be the first woman to be defense minister in Germany. The newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung quoted unnamed sources as saying that the post would go to Ursula von der Leyen, a prominent member of Ms. Merkel’s Christian Democrats who as family minister and most recently labor minister introduced legal reforms and other measures intended to entice more German women to join the work force.

Mr. Gabriel is widely considered to have negotiated skillfully in recent weeks, particularly considering the relative weakness of his party, which received just over 25 percent of the vote in the Sept. 22 elections, against more than 41 percent for Ms. Merkel’s conservative bloc.

But the chancellor’s camp fell five seats short of an absolute majority, forcing coalition negotiations. The conservatives explored the idea of an alliance with the Greens, but that party proved unable to test that combination, so far unknown at the national level of Germany’s complex, consensus-driven politics.

The Social Democrats were at first highly resistant to the idea of another alliance with Ms. Merkel, noting that the previous one had ended in the Social Democrats’ worst result ever — just over 23 percent — in the 2009 elections.

The party also continued to be badly split over labor and welfare reforms introduced under the last Social Democratic chancellor, Gerhard Schröder, and widely credited for the relative success with which Germany weathered the global financial turmoil and the euro crisis.

But in dozens of party meetings across the country in the past three weeks, Mr. Gabriel and other party leaders clearly succeeded in convincing skeptical comrades — the common mode of address among Social Democrats, who proudly wear their 150-year history of fighting for the underdog.

Mr. Gabriel, in a swipe at the Greens, said his party had undergone a successful exercise in grass-roots democracy. The Social Democrats are “not just the oldest but also the most modern party” in Germany, he said.

A version of this article appears in print on , on Page A10 of the New York edition with the headline: Social Democrats Secure A Third Term for Merkel. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe